The present invention relates to a power feeding plug locking device that locks a power feeding plug, which is connected to an inlet to charge a battery.
Nowadays, automobile manufacturers are making strong efforts toward the development of electric vehicles, including hybrid vehicles, to reduce vehicle emissions. Electric vehicles are driven by motors. In such an electric vehicle, a battery serves as a power source of the vehicle. Whenever the state of charge of the vehicle battery becomes low, the battery is charged, for example, by a household power outlet or at a charging station.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 9-161898 describes a power feeding system installed in an electric vehicle that can easily be handled by a user. In the prior art, the vehicle includes an inlet that accommodates a power feeding connector, which is connectable to a power feeding plug extending from, for example, a household power outlet. When the user is at home, the user connects the power feeding plug to the inlet of the parked vehicle. This supplies the vehicle with commercial power and charges the vehicle battery.
A power feeding plug locking device is used to prevent unauthorized removal of the power feeding plug from the inlet. One example of such a locking device includes a lock bar moved back and forth by a motor, which serves as a drive source. In this structure, when connecting the power feeding plug to the inlet, the locking device moves the lock bar to a lock position and locks the power feeding plug. When the power feeding plug is in such a lock state, the power feeding plug cannot be removed from the inlet. When removing the power feeding plug from the inlet, the lock bar is moved to an unlock position to unlock the power feeding plug. This allows the power feeding plug to be moved.
In the above-described power feeding plug locking device, the operations for locking and unlocking the power feeding plug with the locking device may be burdensome for a user. Japanese Patent No. 4379823 describes a power feeding plug locking device that solves such a problem. The power feeding plug locking device locks and unlocks a power feeding plug in cooperation with the locking and unlocking of the vehicle doors. This structure is convenient since the user simply locks and unlocks the doors to operate the power feeding plug locking device.
When the power feeding plug locking device cooperates with the door lock, the power feeding plug locking device performs a locking operation and an unlocking operation whenever the doors are locked and unlocked. Thus, the power feeding plug locking device is operated even when there is no need for it to be operated. As a result, the operation frequency of the power feeding plug locking device is increased. This may adversely affect the durability of the components forming the power feeding plug locking device.